Gavin Newsom CAUGHT Selling Favors
AND TO THINK, WE ALWAYS THOUGHT GETTY OWNED THEIR BOY GAVIN!
California Governor Under Fire for Bizarre Minimum Wage Carveout That Benefits Donor
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.) has come under fire for allegedly pushing to exempt a chain of restaurant franchises owned by one of his most generous donors from the state’s new minimum wage law.
The fast-food wage law, which will raise California’s minimum wage at fast-food chains from $16 to $20 an hour starting in April, comes with an exemption for restaurants that bake and sell bread, which would include the two dozen Panera Bread locations owned by Newsom’s billionaire donor Greg Flynn.
Newsom advocated for the bread exemption, which legislators eventually included in the bill to win over the governor, due to his "longstanding relationship with a Panera franchisee," one person familiar with the law’s passing told Bloomberg.
Flynn has been involved in several business deals with Newsom and made large donations to his campaigns, including $100,000 to quash a Republican-led recall effort against the governor and $64,800 to help him get reelected in 2022. The business magnate also said he knows Newsom well enough to be able to reach him via text, Bloomberg reported.
Flynn denied he played a role in bringing about the exemption, although sources have told Bloomberg he privately urged the governor’s team to not classify Panera as a fast-food chain. According to Newsom, the wage law, known as the FAST Act, was the "result of countless hours of negotiations with dozens of stakeholders over two years."
The exemption for bread-selling restaurants came as a surprise to many, including Michelle Korsmo, head of the National Restaurant Association, who said "everyone’s scratching their head" about the exemption. "You may be celebrating or you may be lamenting the bakery exemption. But remember, all of that comes through relationships," she told Bloomberg.
Even the bill’s lead author, Assemblyman Chris Holden (D.), claimed to be unsure about the exemption’s origins, with his chief of staff Willie Armstrong telling Bloomberg, "We don’t know how that came about."
The wage law faced immediate backlash from fast-food chains operating in California. McDonald’s described the increase in minimum wage as a "devastating financial blow" that will cost each of its locations in the state an estimated $250,000 a year. Other chains such as Chipotle are reportedly eyeing a price increase to counter the rise in wage costs.
New $20 minimum wage law in California set to take effect, but people notice an ‘obscure’ exemption
Talk about fortuitous! In a strange turn of events, one of Gavin Newsom’s biggest donors hits the jackpot, and when the state-mandated $20 minimum wage for certain fast-food workers takes effect in April, this lucky duck employer won’t be subject to complying with the increase, thanks to an “obscure” exemption in the statute.
Here’s the story, from Fox News yesterday:
A major donor to Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to reap the benefit of an obscure exemption to the state’s new $20 minimum wage regulations for the fast food industry that will allow some of his restaurants to continue paying lower wages.
Here’s how the report from Bloomberg framed the issue:
The governor pushed for a carve-out that’s perplexed industry observers and benefited a donor.
Greg Flynn is a billionaire, one of Newsom’s (and other Democrats’) most loyal and longtime benefactors, and according to Bloomberg, “the largest restaurant franchisee in the US, if not the world.” Flynn’s fast-food portfolio includes establishments like Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and Pizza Hut… but his California fast-food portfolio is limited to one brand: Panera Bread.
And, surprise surprise, the new law’s “obscure exemption” seems only applicable to… Panera Bread. As the Fox report states:
Newsom pushed for the exemption, which allows restaurants baking and selling bread as a standalone item to continue paying the current rate of $16 to its employees. That means billionaire Greg Flynn, a longtime donor to the governor, could save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year per each of his two-dozen Panera Bread franchise locations across California….
Interesting. What happened to all of Newsom’s “fair share” talk?
Flynn and Newsome go way back; from Bloomberg:
Flynn attended the same high school as Newsom in the suburbs outside San Francisco.
…
Over the years, Flynn’s donations to Newsom’s political campaigns have included $100,000 to fight off a conservative-led recall effort and $64,800 to support the governor’s reelection in 2022. Flynn has been known to tout his relationship with Newsom, according to people familiar with the matter, with one saying the fast-food entrepreneur has said he can reach the governor via text.
A business connection goes back to 2014, when Flynn acquired a Napa Valley resort managed by Newsom’s hospitality company. Newsom, who was then serving as California’s lieutenant governor, reported an undisclosed amount of income from Flynn’s company that year.
(Oh, and apparently all of Newsom’s assets were placed into a blind trust in 2018 when he won the gubernatorial race—so not a lot of financial transparency there either.)
The corrupt Democrat’s actions have “perplexed” the people who are supposedly experts? In other news, the hens are shocked—shocked I tell you—to learn that the fox never intended to guard the henhouse.
Image generated by AI.
Demo-rats
Yes, the “c” in Democrat today is either silent or should be dropped totally from the party name.
Demolishing America is what they’re all about nowadays, and only anti-American traitors would do that.
Thus, Demo/rats is a much more accurate descriptor for these destructive vermin.
So, what are some of the most problematic examples to date?
- Demo/rat demolition of national security: When a country’s borders are permeable, national security is compromised. United States’ borders today are nearly nonexistent, and that has been true since the current Demo/rat occupant of the White House moved in three years ago.
Obviously, this provides an open door for terrorists to come here. As most will remember, the 9/11 fanatics -- pretending not to be fanatics -- came to the U.S. legally on temporary visas. Today, radicals of all types can just walk into the country unimpeded … or marginally inconvenienced at best.
Hundreds on the terrorist watchlists have been “encountered” at the Southern border, which means others made it through without being stumbled upon. Plus, it’s likely the number of terrorists not on the watch list -- extremists unknown to the U.S., i.e., pretending not to be -- is orders of magnitude larger. As a result, it’s almost certain that thousands of bad actors have come through America’s unsecured borders.
Should Americans be concerned that some might have brought weapons with them? Automatic weapons? Biological weapons? Chemical weapons? Cyber weapons? Directed energy weapons? Small nuclear weapons? The possibilities are endless and with thousands of “got aways” how can anyone know?
Pathogens -- weaponized or unweaponized -- would be high on the list based on how easy it would be to bring them into the country. Illegal aliens have brought innumerable diseases here that are not normally found in the U.S., but it’s unknown how many concealed bioweapons they might have transported. We may find out sometime soon and the targets could include our food supply -- crops and livestock -- not just people.
Regardless of the weapons utilized -- one type or many different types -- the consequences could be catastrophic, making 9/11 seem small-scale by comparison. And if a coordinated assault occurs across the U.S., think what China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and other enemy nations might do while American national security assets are overwhelmed here. Most are testing America’s resolve already.
Hmmm! Could that mean the recent influx of military-aged Chinese males at the southern border isn’t because they’re escaping persecution back home? Surely, any card-carrying members of the Chinese Communist Party would have presented those credentials to officials at the U.S. border, right? You bet!
So, when attacks happen, who will have caused them? The Demo/rat Commandless-in-Chief and those pulling his puppet strings!
- Demo/rat demolition of the U.S. economy, a.k.a., Bidenomics: As noted in my Ayn Rand-prescience blog about Bidenomics last year, “‘You can avoid [the brain-dead] reality’ of destroying America’s energy independence, ‘but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding [that] reality.’ Clearly, increases in gas prices were going to accompany this executive duncemanship [cancelling oil and gas projects]. However, once that domino fell, a whole cascade of additional ones tumbled immediately thereafter. Higher gas costs led to supply chain problems which created product shortages that drove up consumer prices thereby providing a vessel for … what? Inflation!” Thus, Bidenomics sent the country down the path where working Americans can’t afford food and other essentials. Who caused it? The very same Demo/rat Commandless-in-Chief and his puppet masters!
- Demo/rat demolition of law and order, a.k.a., Demo/rat facilitation of crime: Moving to the local level, lawlessness is the norm in most cities led by Demo/rats and that has been true for a few years now. Defund the police and similar moronic actions have plagued numerous cities, yet the Demo/rats in charge never fix the problems. They just move to cashless bail or whatever is next on the stupid list.
Who caused it? Demo/rat mayors!
Who else contributed? Demo/rat city councils and public defenders (sic), today’s public adversaries!
- Demo/rat demolition of civility -- the woke acronyms: Technically speaking, these were not a product of the Demo/rat party; the efforts were led by “socialist-loving “intellectuals’” within America’s universities. Nonetheless, they’re all registered Demo/rats. Thus, it’s the same difference and the Demo/rat party has blessed each and every acronym along the way.
- CRT: Critical race theory is total B.S. and those who pushed it were and are, in fact, the racists. Although CRT is no longer advocated publicly, Demo/rats are still closet supporters, i.e., closet racists. They just change the terminology when the acronym of the day -- e.g., CRT --is proven to be totally bogus. “White privilege” hasn’t been abandoned yet, but when it is, some other racist nomenclature will follow.
Who are the champions? Demo/rats nationwide!
- ESG: Environmental, social and governance “principles” (sic) have fallen out of favor among mainstream Demo/rats. Of course, that only happened because of financial return problems on Wall Street. Billions were pulled from money bleeding ESG funds. Investors tend not to favor losing propositions.
Obviously, that doesn’t mean anything has changed with the Demo/rat’s environmental, social and governance agendas; they just stopped using ESG as the acronym.
Who are the champions? Demo/rats nationwide!
- DEI: Diversity, equity and inclusion has been one of the biggest hiring boondoggles ever. As noted in my American Thinker article a year ago (https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/02/is_it_dei_ied_or_die_yes_it_is.html), “When America’s woke progressives successfully snookered the nation into accepting equity (the impractical pursuits of equal outcomes) as a replacement for equality (equal opportunity) the ballgame changed, majorly. The topline issue is no longer about hiring the applicant with the best credentials to do the work. Today, training and experience for a job barely count with DEI employers.”
And what will equal outcomes do to any organization’s bottom line eventually?Turn profits into loses … the path to bankruptcy.
Who are the champions? Demo/rats nationwide!
- Demo/rat demolition of patriotism and Americanism: Those two terms are nonexistent within today’s Demo/rat party. Truthfully, though, they’ve been missing from the Demo/rat vocabulary since at least when I came home from Vietnam in 1969 proud of my combat service and that of my brothers-in-arms. The socialist/communist Demo/rats openly disparaged anyone who was patriotic back then, and that condemnation has grown ever since.
Who caused it? Anti-America Demo/rats writ large nationwide!
So, how do we fix these Demo/rat messes plus others, assuming they are fixable?
It won’t be easy, but 2024 may be America’s last chance to turn things around. If that doesn’t happen in all critical political races nationwide, America’s world leadership will end prior to the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026. Tragic, indeed!
Closing warning, though, if the Demo/rats are defeated in the most crucial White House race in November. You can be certain that world events -- here and abroad -- will spiral out of control prior to the changing of the guard in January 2025. It will be hold-your-breath time for a couple months. The national security concerns noted above could explode into a devastating reality.
And who will have caused it? Demo/rats!
R.W. Trewyn earned a PhD after surviving Vietnam combat, and more treacherously, endured 53-years postwar slogging academe’s once hallowed halls.
Illegal Aliens Unleashed onto the Streets of San Diego by Border Patrol
The Border Patrol released more illegal aliens onto the streets of an already-overwhelmed San Diego, California on Friday, at the same time that a “welcome center” for immigrants was forced to shut down because it ran out of funding, due to the surge.
“The Border Patrol bus released approximately 200 migrants onto the streets in San Ysidro, where they were then handed over to a non-governmental organization for help,” Fox News reported Friday.
The release of illegal immigrants on Friday is the latest instance of ongoing Border Patrol releases into San Diego.
In just one five-week period late last year, nearly twenty thousand migrants were dropped off in San Diego, local station CBS 8 reported on October 18, 2023:
“Border Patrol has dropped off more than 18,500 migrants into San Diego over the past five weeks. More than 1,400 migrants have been dropped off in Oceanside and local nonprofits and city governments are stepping up to help.
“Last week, CBS 8 reported that Border Patrol had dropped 13,000 in one month's time, meaning there has been at least a 5,500 increase in just seven days.”
Indeed, illegal immigrants are increasingly flooding into San Diego, between official ports of entry. And, if apprehended, they’re overwhelming detention facilities.
Border Patrol encounters between ports of entry in San Diego Sector are up 73.8% through the first four months of the current fiscal year (Oct. 2023-Jan. 2024), surging to 120,124 from 69,117 in the same period last year. In each month, the number of encounters was at least sixty percent higher than the same month year-ago.
Similarly, encounters with illegal immigrants at the port of San Diego by U.S. Customs and Border Control’s Office of Field Operations are up 70%, from 36,834 in the first four months of FY2023 to 62,722 in FY2024 to-date.
Not all of the illegal immigrants released into San Diego stay there, or even remain in the state, however.
Since the Border Patrol drops them off at a bus station, they can simply hop onto another bus and head anywhere else in the U.S. Alternatively, local nonprofits are there to provide them with free transportation to airports and rail stations.
The illegal immigrants claiming to be asylum-seekers are on the honor system to report to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office once they settle in their new location. If they do, a court date will be set, where they can plead their case for asylum, if they show up.
What’s more, not all of San Diego’s illegal immigrants hail from Central or South America – some come from far-off, hostile regimes like China.
The influx of immigrants from hostile countries, who mix in with migrants from more friendly nations, poses a serious national security threat, as MRCTV’s Nick Kangadis reports:
“While the top nationality represented isn’t a complete surprise, with 28,000 criminal invaders from Colombia being encountered, coming in second are invaders from China, with 21,000 encounters in that sector alone since October. The rest of the top 10 includes, in order, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Turkey, Guinea, India, Guatemala and Peru.”
….
“While some Chinese might actually be trying to flee the oppression of their communist government, you better believe that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would take advantage of such a situation and send in spies and other military-related individuals.”
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